Laura F. Gardner

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. (DBSI) is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1971 and is a wholly-owned investment banking and brokerage arm of DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corp., ultimately held by Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB, FRA: DBK) in Germany. DBSI provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services to domestic and international private clients and institutions. They are also a primary dealer in US government securities as designated by the Federal Reserve.

Credit Agricole Securities (USA), Inc. (Credit Agricole Securities USA) is a full service broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and formerly known as Calyon Securities USA, Inc. and Credit Lyonnais Securities, Inc. They are a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Global Partners, Inc., which is owned by Rue la Boétie SAS’s Credit Agricole SA (EPA: ACA) in France. Credit Agricole Securities USA provides investors’ customized solutions to ensure they achieve their execution objectives in the tradition of service excellence and product innovation.

SEI Investments Management Corp. (SIMC) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Oaks, Pennsylvania. The firm was founded in 1968 by Alfred West, Jr. They are a subsidiary of SEI SIMC Holdings LLC, ultimately owned by SEI Investments Co. (NASDAQ: SEIC). SIMC serves as investment advisor to various types of investors and a number of pooled investment vehicles, such as mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, collective investment trusts and offshore investment funds. Additionally, the firm serves as the sponsor of, and advisor to, managed accounts.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC is the US-based securities broker/dealer and futures commission merchant arm of Mizuho Americas LLC, ultimately held by Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (TYO: 8411, NYSE: MFG) in Japan. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1994 and provides institutional and corporate clients access to commodity and financial markets around the world. Mizuho Securities USA covers the following industries: Consumer, Energy, Financial Institutions, Financial Sponsors, Healthcare, Industrial & Diversified Industries, Power, Utilities & Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT). The firm and their affiliates hold memberships on all major futures and options exchanges worldwide.

Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley LLC (TSW) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The firm was founded in 1969 and is a subsidiary of Pendal USA, Inc., which is owned by Perpetual Ltd. (ASX: PPT) in Australia. TSW offers a full range of investment management strategies which includes US and Non-US Equities, Income Strategies, Balanced portfolio strategies and Alternatives for both Institutional and Strategic Advisory clients.

Duke University is an academic university that offers undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. It also has publications and research services. The university was founded in 1838 and is headquartered in Durham, NC.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.

Ernst & Young provides accounting services. Its services include auditing, accounting, tax and transaction services, assurance and advisory business, online transaction advisory and a wide range of financial services. The company was founded by Arthur Young and Alwin C. Ernst in 1881 and is headquartered in Kansas City, MO.

BB&T Securities LLC, doing business as BB&T Capital Markets, is the broker/dealer subsidiary of BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT). The firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. They offer a full array of investment, trading and execution services to middle-market companies. BB&T Capital Markets' sales and trading arm is comprised of 2 groups: Debt Securities Sales & Trading and Equity Sales & Trading. The Debt Securities Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) Government and agency securities (2) corporate bonds (3) municipal bonds (4) asset-backed securities (5) mortgage-backed securities (6) preferred securities and (7) money market desk (short-term securities including BB&T funding). The Equity Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) institutional block execution services (2) institutional distribution of proprietary research (3) providing proprietary access to industry leading conferences and management teams (4) serving as a NASDAQ market maker for over 250 securities (5) stock buybacks including 10b-18 and 10b5-1 trading plans and (6) 144 stock sales, individual 10b5-1 trading plans (buy and sell) and employee cashless stock option programs. BB&T Capital Markets provides research coverage of the communications, defense and government services, energy, financial services, furnishings and consumer durables, healthcare, industrial services, retail/consumer durables and transportation services sectors.

Founded in 2002 by Hunter Thompson and William Davis, Thompson Davis & Co. (TD & Co.) is an independent investment research firm and broker/dealer located in Richmond, Virginia with an additional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The firm is a member of FINRA and the SIPC. TD & Co. provides unbiased, original research and services to institutional and retail investors. They do not perform research on companies for investment banking opportunities. TD & Co. also offers a full-range of financial services ranging from financial planning and private money management to corporate and municipal bonds. TD & Co.'s research team employs a focused methodology. They seek to identified, under followed, undervalued growth companies. The firm uses computer screens that look for companies with sequential revenue and earnings growth and strong balance sheets that are selling at a discount to their growth rates. Specifically, TD& Co. looks for companies with several characteristics: (1) 20% + revenue and earnings growth (2) sequential revenue and earnings growth, i.e., quarter over quarter improvement in both the top and bottom line (3) top management is buying the company's stock in the open market with their own money (4) significant management ownership of the stock (5) strong balance sheets with little or no debt or manageable declining debt, strong cash position or debt reduction efforts (6) operating in a growing market sector (no deep cyclicals or natural resource sectors) (7) gross margin expansion and market share gains and (8) selling at a discount to the company growth rate, allowing for p/e expansion toward growth rate.

Barclays Capital, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1997 and is a subsidiary of Barclays Group US, Inc., ultimately owned by Barclays plc (LON: BARC) in Great Britain. Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients a full spectrum of prime brokerage services which includes equities and fixed income financing, OTC Clearing, Futures and Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage and access to industry insights and analytics from their Strategic Consulting team.

Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker) (Oppenheimer-Broker) is the global full-service brokerage division of Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., an investment boutique headquartered in New York City with additional offices nationwide. Founded in 1975, the firm is owned directly by Viner Finance Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: OPY). Oppenheimer-Broker offers a full array of brokerage services to retail, institutional, and corporate clients.

A subsidiary of Davenport & Co., Davenport Securities is a broker/dealer headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The firm provides a full array of investment services including comprehensive stock and bond brokerage, investment management, research, financial planning, insurance, public finance and corporate finance services. Their research includes coverage of several sectors including healthcare & special situations, media/telecommunications/technology, metals, REITs, specialty finance, technology, financial, energy, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, capital goods & construction materials, and business and professional services. They research local and regional firms making recommendations based on assessments of a company and the industry, regional and national trends, visits to the business, and meetings with the management. In addition to in-house research, Davenport uses several nationally-recognized research firms to provide them with investment information for larger national and international companies. They are a member of the SIPC.

Wells Fargo Securities LLC (WFS) is the broker/dealer subsidiary of EVEREN Capital Corp., ultimately owned by Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). Headquartered in New York, WFS delivers a comprehensive suite of banking, capital markets and advisory solutions, such as a full complement of sales, trading and research capabilities, to corporate, government and institutional clients.

Spider Management Co. LLC (Spider Management) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The firm was founded in 2001 and is the investment management affiliate of the University of Richmond. Spider Management provides investment advisory services in the form of portfolio management to pooled vehicles and charitable organizations. The firm currently serves as the investment adviser to the University of Richmond’s Endowment, The Richmond Fund, a charitable organization, and Spider Buyout Holdings LP – a Delaware limited partnership.

Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (Virginia Innovation Partnership) is a private equity/venture capital non-profit operating division of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority firm founded in 1985. The firm is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra operates amusement and attraction entertainment exhibitions. It provides orchestra services, promotion and support to sustain interest in symphonic music in Indiana. The company was founded by Ferdinand Schaefer in October 2, 1930 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.

Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 to serve the Northwest Territory, an area that now includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Northwestern has three campuses

Hovde Group LLC is a leading boutique investment bank that has been providing advisory services to the financial services sector for over 30 years. The private company offers a full suite of investment banking, capital markets, research, equity sales, and trading services to its clients, including institutional and retail investors, community and regional banks, and other financial companies located throughout the United States. The company is based in Inverness, IL, and has subsidiaries in the United States. Hovde Group consistently ranks among the bank sector's top M&A and capital markets advisory firms, is a leading market maker of community and regional bank stocks, and produces high-quality research from award-winning analysts. The American company was founded in 1987 by Steven Donald Hovde, who has been the CEO since then.

Kansas City Symphony operates as music school. The company was founded by R. Crosby Kemper Jr. in 1982 and is headquartered in Kansas City, MO.

Lariat Partners LP (Lariat Partners) is a private equity firm founded in 2013 by Jay Coughlon and Kevin James Mitchell. The firm headquartered in Denver city, Colorado.

FiscalNote, Inc. engages as a global data analytics and advisory firm. Its government relationship management platform offers information discovery, tracking, network building and response coordination into a single, accessible working environment. The firm's services include workflow optimization and augmentation, reporting and analysis, and research and insights. The company was founded by Timothy Hwang, Jonathan C. Chen and Gerald Yao in 2013 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.